Trump’s ‘Jewish Wingman’ Says He Paid Stormy Daniels $130K Out Of His Own Pocket

A picture of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels posted on Daniels’ MySpace page. Image by MySpace/Stormy Daniels
Michael D. Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, paid the porn actress known as Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket — and was not reimbursed, the New York Times reported. The payment was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in January.
In a detailed statement to the Times, Cohen called the payment to Stormy Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — “lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.” Cohen had previously denied that Trump had an affair with Clifford.
Cohen declined to answer whether Trump ever knew about the payment or had made or ordered similar payments in the past. Cohen’s statement was his first acknowledgment of involvement in the payment.
Cohen’s statement came amid questions from a watchdog group that the payment had come from an in-kind contribution to Trump’s presidential campaign. Cohen called the allegations “untrue.”
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.